


it isn't lust; it's all the rest

by H0locene



Series: it is this possibility of you [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Comfort No Hurt, F/F, Fluff, just 2k words of tooth-rotting fluff, lesbians in love, lin taking care of her girl, they just don't wanna admit it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27510523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/H0locene/pseuds/H0locene
Summary: Kyalin week day 3: tiredAfter a long and gruelling day healing Korra, Kya finds she’s got something to come back to. Set at the end of S3, could be read as canon compliant.Title taken from a poem, [Didn’t Sappho say her guts clutched up like this?] by Marilyn Hacker. If you look it up, be advised - CW for sexual references.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Kya II
Series: it is this possibility of you [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012233
Comments: 26
Kudos: 194
Collections: KyaLin Week 2020





	it isn't lust; it's all the rest

The island is quiet as she leaves the healing hut for the night. Kya needs rest; Arri and Rahlos would do perfectly well in her stead. They were, after all, trained by Kya - she knows she can trust them to keep watch over the Avatar.

She sighs as the cool night air hits her face. The moon is waning, now, and the energy the full moon had brought has left her body. She can’t remember if she’s ever felt this tired in her life.

Kya knows she’s overdoing it; she’s most certainly not healed herself. But this is her duty. The world needs Korra, and Korra needs her. Truthfully, Korra needs the South and Spirit Water and the wisdom of Katara, but everyone on the island still seemed to be in denial of this fact.

Gripping her crutch, Kya struggles across the courtyard back to the private quarters. How she wished she was at the Pole, her soft bed and warm furs waiting for her, but a quick snooze on the grey slab will have to do; she feels unease already creeping in for having left Korra even momentarily. Nightmares of Zaheer’s attack still plague the girl. Korra doesn’t really express much emotion these days, save for in the aftermath of these dreams. The soft, broken breaths Korra lets loose as she sobs are a sound that Kya will not easily forget. 

She stops for a moment, just before the dorms, to catch her breath. Walking back from the hut might just be the straw that broke the camelephant’s back.

“Kya?” a quiet voice calls down to her from atop the stairs.

The woman looks up to see Lin standing by the door to the private quarters, a concerned frown on her face and glasses perched on her nose. Her armour is currently nowhere to be seen; she’s dressed simply in a white tank and the black pants that usually accompany her outfit. Kya’s heart flutters at the sight and she inwardly curses herself. Now is _really_ not the time for her recently resurrected feelings to make themselves known.

She’s not used to Lin waiting for her. It’s usually the other way around; Kya sitting in Lin’s apartment downtown, waiting for the Chief to finish work so she can take her to bed. It’s something that started on the back of a drunken night years ago, after Lin and Tenzin’s break up and Uncle Sokka’s death. Up until very recently, Kya has been perfectly happy with this arrangement every time she travels to Republic City. But over the last few years, Kya has begun to feel more than the anticipation and satisfaction of coming to Republic City to sleep with Lin. Rather annoyingly, her heart is beginning to race and her palms are beginning to sweat the same way they did when they were teens and Kya realised she was attracted to girls. It’s inconvenient, but Kya doesn’t let it get in the way of a good time.

She’s not seen much of Lin since the battle with the Red Lotus. Kya’s been too focused on her recovery, and on Korra’s. She’s been in far too poor a state to get up to any of their usual activities. But Kya has still felt a pull of longing that has nothing to do with the lack of sex she’s having and everything to do with the lack of Lin she’s seeing. She’s utterly thrown to see the woman now, at this late hour. They’ve been so careful to make sure that nobody could possibly get wind of their arrangement.

“Hey,” Kya greets. “What are you still doing here?”

Lin hesitates for a moment, and the corners of her mouth begin to pinch. In lieu of an answer, the younger woman sinks into a stance and slams her foot into the ground. Kya finds herself slowly rising into the air, the ground beneath her solid, as Lin bends a slab to the top of the staircase. Kya flashes her a grateful smile as she steps off the platform, and Lin returns the stone to the ground unblemished.

“You look exhausted,” Lin frowns as her eyes study Kya’s face. Kya responds with a dry laugh.

“Gee thanks, Chief,” she says wryly. Lin rolls her eyes. “You never did answer my question,” Kya continues, “the last ferry left hours ago. How come you’re still out here?”

Lin just shrugs, and gestures with her head towards the private quarters. They set off at a slow pace, which Kya appreciates. “How’s Korra?” she asks instead.

Kya sighs deeply, closes her eyes for a moment, before looking up at Lin with a grimace. “She’s got a long way to go.”

Lin nods, her mouth and brows falling into a concerned frown that makes Kya’s stomach flip. “Do you think you can keep up with it? It can’t be good for your own healing.”

“It’s not,” Kya admits. She knows it. Everyone knows it, really. But that doesn’t stop them from hoping the Avatar will miraculously turn a corner, wake up one day and be back to full strength, ready to repair the growing Earth kingdom instability. “She needs mom.”

Lin nods again, and slows as they approach Kya’s room. An incredible smell is wafting into the corridor, and Kya frowns bemusedly.

“Can you smell that?” she asks. Lin won’t meet her eyes, shrugs again. She looks almost nervous.

Kya reaches past her to open the door to her room, and a soft gasp leaves her lips as she looks in. A small, wooden table has been erected in the middle of the room, holding a variety of plates. She can smell five-flavour soup, and- Spirits, are those _sweet buns?_ Kya looks back to Lin in shock. The younger woman is looking at the ground, a light blush on her cheeks. Kya’s heart feels full.

“I figured you wouldn’t have eaten,” she mumbles, almost too quietly for Kya to hear.

“Why?” Kya asks, beyond mystified. Kya had, in fact, skipped dinner - hers went cold as she attempted to feed Korra, and she found she hadn’t the stomach for it after the poor girl had woken screaming again.

“You’re too busy taking care of Korra to notice you’re not taking care of yourself,” Lin shrugs stiffly, still refusing to meet her eyes. “It’s still warm, go eat,” the metal blender urges.

As quickly as she can possibly manage, Kya moves into her bedroom, discarding her crutch as she sits in front of the table. Lin still stands in the doorway, the toes of her shoe tapping rapidly against the floorboards.

“Are you coming in?” Kya asks softly. “I couldn’t possibly eat this all by myself.”

At that, Lin hastily steps into the room, shutting the door and reaching the table in time to take the ladle from Kya and serving her. The older woman watches her with amused eyes.

“I can serve myself, you know,” she raises an eyebrow at Lin, who doesn’t falter.

“I know,” she returns simply, handing Kya a bowl of the soup. Kya takes the bowl with a soft smile and begins to eat, watching as Lin also serves her up a portion of seaweed noodles before serving herself.

The soup tastes just like her mother’s; a comfort she didn’t know she’d been craving. It makes sense, of course - Lin had spent a lot of her time on Air Temple Island in the kitchen with Katara, learning to cook so that she could feed herself and Suyin more than takeout every night. Kya is overcome with a rush of affection for the younger woman. Dinner is a quiet affair, and when it’s finished, Lin sets about collecting the plates, setting them outside Kya’s room. Kya takes the opportunity to changes into her nightclothes. She notices a soft blanket laid out on the bed that she doesn’t recognise. She reaches out to run her fingers over the material, and smiles at the plush feel as she makes contact.

“The beds here are awful to sleep on at the best of times,” comes the explanation from behind her. Kya turns her head to see Lin fussing with Kya’s discarded clothes, tidying them into the hamper in the corner of the room. “Uncle Sokka gave me that during one of my stays in the South.”

Kya blinks, feeling awed. Lin bringing the blanket suggests premeditation, and she feels tears begin to well in her eyes. The fact that she’d planned this entire evening; she’d planned to stay on the island and take care of Kya...

She doesn’t notice until she feels strong hands grip her foot that Lin is now knelt by the bed, and she is pressing her fingers at the ball just below her toes. Kya lets out a surprised breath.

“Lin-“ she starts, but the younger woman shakes her head, before looking up and meeting her eyes for the first time that night.

“Let me take care of you, Kya.”

Kya melts.

She lets herself relax as Lin kneads at her feet, enjoying the relief that comes as the tension releases slowly. She has to blink herself awake as Lin moves behind her, presses her hands between her shoulder blades, and begins to work out the knots in her back. Kya lets out a soft sigh, and allows herself to lean back into Lin’s touch. It takes a little while for Kya to realise that Lin has finished. She blinks the sleep from her eyes, feeling the lift of Lin’s chest behind her back as she breathes, the brush of Lin’s palms as she runs her hands slowly up and down Kya’s arms. She leans back into the younger woman’s embrace, as Lin readily wraps her arms around her.

“Sleep,” murmurs Lin, pressing a soft kiss to Kya’s temple. The older woman shifts, laying back on the bed and pulling Lin down with her. To her surprise, the metalbender easily acquiesces, keeping an arm wrapped around Kya’s middle as she pulls the blanket over the both of them.

“Stay,” Kya breathes drowsily, her eyelids fluttering slowly shut. Her heart stutters for a moment as she realises what she’s asked. In all these years, Kya has never once stayed. That was not the (unspoken) arrangement. And before these damned feelings started to re-emerge, she was perfectly happy with that (if a little pouty that she didn’t get to cuddle). As though she were sensing her thoughts, Lin’s arms tighten around her as she presses another kiss to the back of her head.

“Of course,” she replies softly.

There’s quiet for a moment, and Kya feels sleep tugging at the edges of her consciousness. She turns over, aiming to press a kiss to Lin’s cheek. In her half-asleep state, she misjudged slightly, and smudges a kiss to the corner of Lin’s mouth. She hears the younger woman’s breath catch as their lips separate. Before she can process the noise, Lin’s mouth chases hers and she kisses Kya gently. The waterbender sighs, pressing closer, but neither of them make a move to deepen the kiss. They’ve kissed before, plenty of times, but those kisses were always hurried, almost desperate, and full of heat. This was different. Kya felt warmth shoot through her.

“That’s nice,” Kya murmurs as they part. She feels, rather than hears, Lin’s chuckle as it rumbles through her chest.

“Yeah?” she hears the smile in Lin’s voice, and her fingers reach up to touch it. Lin kisses the tips of her fingers, and Kya hums, pulling her hand back to cuddle into Lin. She burrows into the younger woman’s neck, sighing softly and feeling Lin shiver beneath her.

She knows she’ll have to leave soon, to take Korra back to the South and help her mother to care for her. But Kya is starting to feel hope that there will be a reason to return soon. Something new. Something _more._

Lin runs her fingers through Kya’s hair, and she lets sleep take her.

* * *

Kya wakes in the morning to the smell of jasmine tea and the sound of shuffling around her room. She feels more rested than she’s felt in a while, she realises, as the memories of the precious night begin to filter in. Her eyes snap open as she realises she’s alone in the bed, and she sits up abruptly, hissing and clutching her side as she does so.

“Be careful,” Lin scolds, immediately at her side. She’s dressed in her uniform, Kya notes.

“What time is it?”

“A little after 6. The first boat will be here in twenty minutes,” Lin murmurs apologetically.

“Oh,” Kya can’t stop the disappointed noise escaping her mouth, and it makes Lin smile. It’s a smile she’s always admired, more in her eyes than in her mouth, and it makes Kya’s heart skip a beat. Lin’s smile curls into a smirk (damned seismic senses), and she leans down to kiss the older woman. Kya’s hands come up to hold Lin’s cheeks, keeping her close for as long as she can.

Lin eventually pulls away with a kiss to the top of Kya’s head. “I have to go,” she says softly. Kya smiles regretfully.

“Yeah, I should be getting back to Korra,” she sighs. Lin frowns, reaching out to run her fingers along the bags under Kya’s eyes.

“I’ll be back for dinner,” she tells the older woman, and smiles as Kya’s eyes brighten.

“It’s a date,” the healer smirks. Lin’s head ducks, but Kya can see the blush beginning to bloom on her cheeks and files that sight away for later examination.

Lin walks over to the mirror, checks that her hair is still in place, and leave the room with a murmured _goodbye_. Kya stretches and stands, intending to walk to her wardrobe when she sees the clothes Lin has set beside her bed and she smiles. She’s absolutely exhausted, still, and the day ahead promises to make that worse, but her soul doesn’t feel as heavy today.

She’s looking forward to dinner.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not a smut writer, but service top!Lin definitely takes care of Kya before she leaves for the South Pole.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Have a great day!


End file.
